I was raised a Southern Baptist, but
never really felt quite right about it. I went to church
with my mother (reluctantly), but nearly every sermon was
filled with threats of hellfire, and I always ended up being
afraid of God. In my teens, I began investigating the claims
of other religions, reading the Quran, the Vedas, the
Zend-Avesta and several others. I bought a paperback edition
of Pickthalls translation of the Quran in a
second-hand bookstore and was literally blown away by the
strong resemblance to the Bible. It was then that I first
began to entertain the notion that Muhammad may really have
been the prophet that his followers claimed him to be. My
father (a liberal Christian) said that he could have been,
as the prophets in the Bible were in all likelihood not the
only ones.

Shortly thereafter, I joined the Air
Force where I officially joined the Catholic Church. Three
months later I was discharged due to a contract dispute and
I went to Los Angeles where I spent 4 months in a homeless
shelters "rehabilitation program", where I was fed a
steady diet of Fundamentalist theology. I returned to my
parents home in northern California, shortly
thereafter, where my search for Truth continued. This time I
expanded my search to include the "Standard Works" of
Mormonism, the Tao Te Ching and the works of Confucius and
Mencius. I also discovered the Bahai Faith, which I
investigated and my brother joined. Eventually, due to
constant personality clashes with my parents, I left again
and returned to Los Angeles, where I spent another eight
months. After that, I found myself homeless again and began
travelling all over North and South America. While in Mexico
I was introduced to yet another scripture, a Mayan work
called the Popul Vuh. While staying at a Pentecostal
homeless shelter I heard about the controversial Rajneesh
group. The Pentecostals were certain that he was the
biblical Antichrist, so I decided to investigate. I spent a
couple of months at their commune in Oregon, then left to
continue my travels. Eventually my travels led me to
Pennsylvania where I met my current wife and where I have
lived ever since.

Eventually I acquired another copy of
the Quran and began reading it. Meanwhile, I continued
trying to force myself to be a Christian. Over the years I
experimented with various New-Age religions, always drawn
back to the Quran. I also began reading other books on
Islam. When I finally got Internet access, I began looking
up Islamic sites on the Web. In the town I live in there is
a Qadiani mosque, but nobody ever seemed to be there when I
went there to investigate, so I decided to type "Ahmadiyya"
into a search engine. I then discovered the Lahori sites
where I began reading several of the online books. Finally,
I decided to "take the plunge" and submitted my pledge form
by Email. I received a reply welcoming me to the Ahmadiyya
movement and asking for my phone number, which I provided.
The following weekend I got a call from someone (I
dont remember who, I was half-asleep at the time). She
asked me which Ahmadi books I had, and when I told her that
I had only been reading the online editions on the website
she said she would send me some books. A few days later they
arrived and I began studying them. I am very much impressed
with the liberal, tolerant attitude of Ahmadiyya and I am
now certain I have found the Truth I was searching for all
these years.